Soul Coughing

Seemingly birthed from the gritty streets of New York City, Soul Coughing’s groove oriented, hyper-kinetic, poppish funk-soul-jazz has no exact equivalent in music history. Mike (then M.) Doughty recited abstract, often absurd, poetry in a staccato, half-scat style, delivered with the gentlest sort of irony, amid random samples of everything from Howlin’ Wolf to the Andrews Sisters; meanwhile, Knitting Factory regular Sebastian Steinberg’s insistent standup bass pounded a devilish bottom end. The group slowly built a following through three acclaimed albums in the 1990s, even reaching radio with quirky “Super Bon Bon” and hooky “Circles” (an almost top 40 pop hit). After the band’s breakup in 2000, Doughty earned a cult following for his similar, if slightly more button-down, solo work.